Nanny Fran is trying to encourage 13-year-old
Brighton's interest in video-making and hires him to tape her cousin's
bris. (That is, the party. One summary of this episode refers to her
"throwing a bris".)

Typical gag: in his ignorance, he films the
brisket. He is told "that's the mohel who did you." The baby is circumcised.
Brighton passes out at the crucial moment...

...missing it but creating a "humorous" tape,
which wins the family a trip to LA.

This show says perhaps the least of any about what
is actually happening, because "everybody knows" circumcision itself is
trivial.

Christmas Episode (1993)

Niles is complaining to Fran about Christmas, and
Fran says how easy Jewish holidays are.

Niles: Is it too late to
convert?Fran: Never! We'll get you a Bar Mitzvah
and of course a circumcision.Niles: Suddenly I'm filled with the
Christmas spirit.

Assuming that only Jews are circumcised, and
acknowledging that adult circumcision is painful.

Schmidt, a flashy businessman and male stripper
(Max Greenfield) thinks he is a gift to women.

Schmidt: Nick! I came up with
the best name for an uncircumcised penis. Bishop in a turtleneck!

Perhaps we are to laugh at him, not with him: one commentator calls this "a
contribution to the douchebag jar".

Schmidt finishes his shower and realizes his bath
towel is missing from the hook. To get to his bedroom he must cross the
living room with just a hand towel in front of his crotch. Jess (Zooey
Deschanel) is seated in his path, knitting with 2 friends. Walking
backward for modesty, Schmidt stumbles and falls, dropping the hand
towel. He stands with his hands over his crotch as the women joke:

(final episode) One of the
principal young men, Sam Armstrong (Stuart Manning), has his towel
pulled off him
when he is leaving the shower and he is photographed. The photograph is
given to his Jewish girlfriend. To keep her, he agrees to be
circumcised.

He is next seen lying on an operating table under
a Star of David. The mohel comments: "We don't see many your age in
here."

Four years later, he is wearing a full beard and
the dress of an
Orthodox Rabbi.

More literally than usual, it is circumcision that
has made a man Jewish.
Thanks to NORM-UK

Nip/Tuck

(or "Nip-Tuck" or "NipTuck") FX Channel, July 22,
2003 didn't wait for its circumcision sequence. It began in episode 1.

Christian: Basically, he's
self-concious about his dick and he wants a circumcision.

[In
South Miami?]

Sean: He doesn't need a
circumcision. That's a vanity operation.

Christian: We're in the vanity
business, Sean, it's what we do. Appearance is everything to a kid.
It's how you fit in. Snip, Snip. He feels
better about himself. And you, sir, can make that happen. How cool is
fatherhood?

Sean: I'm not doing anything to
my son's penis or my wife's breasts. [She asked him]
I don't want my family infected by what we do here.

Christian: And what is it that
we do here, Sean, other than make people feel better about themselves?

Sean: What we do here is let
people externalize the hate they feel about themselves. Which is why I
want to hire a fulltime psychologist to screen people better.

Christian (sarcastically):
Great, and let's do yoga in the lobby.

Sean: Since Botox went wide
it's been like a factory in here. There's no discernment, no caution.

Christian: This is a business,
Sean, a very good business that is on the verge of setting us up for
life.

Christian (ironically):
Everyone needs someone in their life who who'll listen, right?

Sean's office.

Sean: (to Matt) Tell me what
you like about yourself?

Matt: Look, Dad, I'm grateful
that you're treating me like an adult. But if we have to do this, can
we skip the psycho mind-probe stuff?

Sean: Our mother and I have
thought a lot about this topic. We didn't give you a circumcision
because you were six weeks premature. Your little fighting body didn't
need the stress of an operation.

Matt (shrugs): I could have
handled it.

[As
well as failing to address Matt's concerns, this conversation is full
of non-sequiturs. As usual, the real reasons for leaving babies'
penises alone - such as human rights
and pleasure - are not
mentioned.]

Sean: Matt, why did you go to
Christian with your concerns instead of me?

Matt: Because he's cooler than
you and he listens to me. I don't get that Father-knows-best bullshit
from him. He treats me like a man.

Sean (nods): Matt, I'm going to
make an appointment
with a psychologist. I apologize we don't have one on the staff here.
We
should.

Matt (upset):
Look, I just want it, OK? I don't want
guys talking trash about me and I know women don't like it
when you're
not cut. It's the smell or something....even though I keep it clean, so
feel free to skip the hygiene lecture.

Sean: Matt, are you having sex
with girls?

Matt: Not with girls, Dad. With
Vanessa. Maybe you've over-heard me talking to Mom about her. You know
she's beautiful, she's a varsity
cheerleader. She can have any guy she wants. And she chose me.

Matt: Trivial?! This is my
life! This is not trivial. Look, for once.......just give me something
that I need.

July 29, 2003

Matt is sitting at the kitchen table
doing homework. Enter Sean.

Sean (throwing a
condom on the kitchen table.): Heads up.

Matt(picking it up,
shocked but smiling): What's this?

Sean : It's a prophylactic,
Matt.

Matt: Well, yeah. I know what
it is, Dad. Why did you give it to me?

Sean: You're worried about your
girl's reaction to your foreskin on the first time, right? Well, you
responsibly slip this on when that time
comes... she won't even know. Once you get your sea legs, you can be
confident enough to initiate a conversation about what a foreskin is
and how it really won't affect her pleasure. [No
suggestion that it might actually give her more pleasure.]

Matt looks angry, frustrated and/or
disappointed

Later. We see the lower halves of a man
undressing a woman. Track up to reveal Matt and his girlfriend,
Vanessa, kissing passionately. Cut to them in bed together.

Vanessa: Matt.

Matt: Mmm? Mmm?

Vanessa: I want to try it.

Matt: Oh... OK.

He gets out of bed

Vanessa: Where are you going?

Matt: Oh... uh... I was gonna
get a condom.

Vanessa: I want to see it
first.

Matt (smiling
nervously ) OK... Yeah... sure.

He rolls on to his back looking
uncomfortable. Vanessa moves out of shot to inspect him at length. When
she surfaces he begins to kiss her but she doesn't respond.

Vanessa: It looks like a
Shar-Pei. Are you part-Arab or something? [Virtually
all Arab men, being Muslim, are circumcised. This presumably reveals
the scriptwriters' ignorance rather than Vanessa's. It's been suggested
she's referring to Arab horses ...]

(left)
a Shar-Pei and (right, to the same scale) a foreskin.
The same comparison is used in Sex and the City

Matt: Uh....no. (pause)

Matt: Does it turn you off that
that I'm not - circumcised?

Vanessa (Avoiding eye
contact.): No, not at all. (pause) Maybe
we should just make out today. (She starts to kiss him on the
mouth but Matt he does not respond.)

(Later . Matt and Christian are in a
strip club)

Matt: Why won't you give me the
circumcision? He doesn't even have to know.

Christian: Carving up your dick
is a little more telltale than buying you a 6-pack on the sly, Matty.

(A waitress approaches)

Matt: Uh... Hi....I'll have a
Dewar's straight up.

Christian: (Chuckles. )
He'll have a Coke. (He ogles the waitress) I'll have
the Dewar's, sweetheart. Thank you

Christian: Besides, I'm of the
opinion your father's right about this one. You don't need a
circumcision.

Matt: Oh, fine. If you guys
won't help me, I'll go to another surgeon.

Christian: Who'll operate
without a signed parent consent form. Good luck. The problem isn't your
dick, Matty. It's your confidence. You were timid and embarrassed. She
saw that and that's what turned her off.

(Waitress returns with their drinks.)

Matt: Thanks. Um......why are
we here?

Christian (Chuckling):
Because we are gonna work on the confidence part. Yeah!

Matt (laughing):
You're kidding me, right?

Christian: Au
contraire, my little virginator. I've arranged for you to
just get it out of the way. A little bang under your belt, I firmly
believe you'll be able to bicycle over to Vanessa's place, grab that
peachy ass and show her how it's done - with no fear.

Christian (facing Matt):
Girls don't care if you have a 2 inch pecker, a hairy ass, or balls the
size of cranberries. What they care about is that you know what you're
doing.

Matt (chuckling and
sighing): So which girl?

Christian(pointing
over his shoulder at a woman who is waving and smiling at Matt.):
Behind me. On the stairs . Her name is Avanti. Rumor has it she can
suck the peel off an apple.

Matt: I feel entirely creep
about paying someone to pretend they like me. No... Hey.... besides,
man, I'm not gonna cheat on Vanessa . I love her. Haven't you ever had
that?

(Later. Matt is sitting at a computer in
in his bedroom. He types in "circumcision". ... He adds the words "how
to" and hits "Search")

(Later. Matt and his mother Julia are in
the kitchen)

...

Matt: Hey, Mom. Do you have any
cuticle scissors?

Julia: Why do you need those?

Matt (holding up his
hand): Why do you think? I have a hang nail.

Julia: Upstairs bathroom. Third
drawer on the right.

(Later. Matt back at the computer)

Voice: "Hey, how's it going?
You've logged onto Joey's
Self-Circumcision Web Page. A guide for guys like me who have a
foreskin problem and are too embarrassed to have the doctor do the
duty. First things first, guys. Relax. A shaking hand means you could
slip. I took a mild muscle relaxant."

(Matt pours himself a glass of wine)

Voice: "Other guys I know fared
well on a glass of red wine. Be smooth and confident."

(Matt takes a big swallow. Later: he is
pouring himself another glass, drinking it all, then another. He drinks
from the bottle, finishing it. Matt reads and sharpens the cuticle
scissors.)

Voice: "Your surgical tools
have to be sharpened to razor-sharpness. When you do, the cuts are
virtually painless and bleed very little. I didn't use ice or anything.
There was no need."

(Cut to Matt staring at a picture of
Vanessa. He begins to take off his shirt, then unzips his jeans, pulls
them down a little and then pulls down his boxers a little. He reaches
for the cuticle scissors.)

Voice: "For the first cut, grip
the foreskin and pull it out. Cut in a circular motion, removing a thin
quarter inch strip."

Matt looks shakily downward. We hear a
single clipping sound. Matt flinches and closes his eyes. Slowly he
raises his hand and his fingers are covered in blood. He slowly passes
out hits the floor as the screen fades to
black..

Broadcast August 5, 2003

Next morning. Julia is pacing around
outside closed double doors.

Julia: What's going on, Matt?
Are you OK?

Matt (on the other
side, in the bathroom): Look, I'm gonna be fine, Mom. (to
Sean, who is seated on the closed toilet lid) Right? I'm
gonna be fine?

After a long pause Matt removes the ice
pack. At the crucial moment, the shot changes: though we repeately see
the most gruesome plastic surgery in medical-school detail, we never
see a live penis.

Sean (incredulous):
You took a chunk out of your foreskin and lacerated the opening of your
urethra. I can apply a slight pressure bandage. That will get you
through the next
couple of hours.

Matt: And then what?

Sean: And then later today
you're coming into the office. And I'm gonna give you a proper
circumcision

Matt: No shit?

Sean: On one condition: you
start communicating with me! If there is something about your body you
want changed, one of those nipple rings, whatever, we talk it out
before you try self-mutilation.
And if you have questions about sex, for instance, how to find and
stimulate the clitoris,
you come to me. I want to be involved in your life, Matt. Deal?

Matt (after a long
pause): Deal.

Later. Sean, Julia and Matt are having
breakfast. Matt reaches for an apple.

Sean: Aah! No food 12 hours
before surgery.

Julia: Matt, you've never even
had your tonsils out. Are you sure you want to do this?

Matt: Yes. It's important to
me, Mom. And Dad agrees, so---

Sean: No, I don't agree. What
you did has to be corrected by a professional. [This
is not "correction". Salvage would be possible, though it is fine
surgery.] I'm doing your circumcision out of
medical necessity. Before we leave, you need to shave your genital
region, Matt.

Julia: Carefully.

Matt: And the humiliations just
keep coming, don't they. (Exit.)

Julia: I don't like this.

Sean: He'll be fine. I promise.

Later. Sean and Christian are scrubbing
up. Later still, the operating theatre, Matt on the operating table.
Sean looks worried.

Slow motion. Sean passes the scalpel to
Christian. Instead of seeing anything of Christian doing the
circumcision, to a Strauss waltz, we see ghoulish detail of the tummy
tuck, with emphasis on the forklike retractors and a large gob of fat
being dropped in a bowl.

Later. Vanessa and Matt are on Matt's bed

Vanessa: Did it hurt?

Matt: You were worth it

They both chuckle, looking into each
other's eyes.

Matt: The stitches come out
next week. We can do it anytime after that.

As they move together, Sean bursts into
the room

Sean: Matt, have you urinated
yet today? (He starts when he sees Vanessa.

Vanessa (laughing):
Buzzkill. Later.

Matt and Sean in the bathroom

Matt: Why do you want to see
this?

Sean: I had to suture your
urinarius, and I want to make sure there's no blood in the urine. That
would be a sign of internal hemorrhaging. And I want to be here to
support you.

Matt (puzzled):
Why do I need that?

Sean: The first time you pee
after an operation of this nature, It's going to feel like you're
pissing fire, Matt. Just press down on my hand and scream if you want.
Nobody's going to judge you.

Matt: No, I, uh I mean I really
can't dance. You're right about the prom thing. She's already asked me
to go. And I don't.....don't know how to dance.

Sean: Uh, Well that's OK.
Neither could I. You just say "It's not my thing."

Matt: This works?

Sean: I didn't even dance at my
own wedding. Women like it when there's some mystery there.

Matt: Thanks

Matt: Uhh! Shit! It's coming!
Uh! (reaches out) Hand!

Later. Loud rock music. Matt is knocking
and calling at the front door of Vanessa's house. He enters the house.
He sees Vanessa's pompoms and book bag on a settee. He goes upstairs
and slowly opens Vanessa's door. Vanessa is passionately kissing and
groping another girl. They see Matt. Matt runs out.

Later. Matt comes home and tries to sneak
upstairs unnoticed.

Sean: Hey! Come on in here!

Matt comes back.

Sean: So tell me.

Matt: Tell you what?

Sean: How did it go with
Vanessa? The stitches are out. I figured
you- you know.

Matt (unconvincingly): It was
great, Dad.

Sean: Just- great?

Matt: It was everything I
wanted it to be. And I want to thank you for just really helping me out
and giving it to me.

Sean: You're welcome. (They
hug)

Matt: Uh, I'm gonna go wash up
for dinner.

Matt goes to his room and closes the
door. He leans against it and starts crying.

[And
well he might. While this plotline is hardly pro-intact, not only did
Matt's circumcision go to waste, but Vanessa was probably telling the
truth that it wasn't his foreskin that was bothering her.]

In later episodes:

Neighbours blaming Matt for another incident
say he "cut his own dick off."

Matt says to a Jewish friend who is
considering converting to Christianity, "I wish I'd saved my foreskin;
I could give it to you."

Northern Exposure

Episode 2.3. "All Is Vanity", broadcast 22 July
1991

Written by: Andrew Schneider and Diane Frolov

Directed by: Nick Marck

Shelly Tambo (Cynthia Geary) goes to bed with
Holling Vincour (John Callum) and makes an offhand comment about him
being intact. He asks Dr Joel Fleischmann (Rob Morrow) to circumcise
him to be "more in style," but Joel advises against it. Shelly talks
him into it again, but he has a bad dream (in which Joel circumcises
him with a sword in front of an audience "[to give] it a more youthful
and vigorous appearance" and something goes wrong).

Sensing his lack of motivation, Joel finds an excuse (clotting
disorder) NOT to circumcise him.

The Oblongs

Animated series about a family living next to a
polluted swamp. Episode 2: "Narcoleptic Scottie" written by Scott Buck

Youngest son, Milo (who is highly
medicated for his Attention Deficit Disorder, among
other things) is being put to bed by his
mother, Pickles.

Pickles: And so the sexual
odyssey of these two strangers breaks every taboo, leading to an
unforgettable nine and a half weeks.

Milo: Read me another video
box, Mommy.

Pickles: No, honey, it's time
to board the sleepy train to slumber land where fairies make all your
sweet dreams come true. Lockdown! (She pulls up the bed
railings)

Milo: Oh, Mom, I'm fully
medicated.

Pickles: Milo, last night you
were up till dawn trying to circumcise ants.

Milo: That's not crazy. It's a
matter of hygiene. (Pickles blows him a kiss and locks him in
his bedroom.)

This is either

yet more of TV's endless endorsement of
circumcision, or

a parody of TV's endless endorsement of
circumcision, or

an attempt at simple bizarreness, but with the
implicit assumption that circumcision is "a matter
of hygiene"

Tonya: I don't really know you.
But speaking as a woman. It's no big deal to me.

Euan: (surprised and
relieved) Really?

Tonya: Sure. As long as I don't
have to touch it. (6) (Exit
Tonya and Status)

Liz: Euan, relax. Women like
you for you. Only the most shallow women are going to get bent out of
shape by appearance.

...

Jordan: Whip it out. I want to
see it.

The apartment.
Later.
(Status, Mike, and Chau.
Status is helping Mike get dressed for his date with Liz. Euan
comes downstairs)

Euan: (coming
downstairs) Gentleman, I've been crunching the numbers and
they don't look promising. There's a grass roots movement against my
foreskin. A solid 35% of the women I've slept with lately referred to
little Euan as off putting.

Dr. Wasserman: No... No... You
seem a little nervous, and you shouldn't be. Why don't you just relax
while I go and get an instrument. (He walks to a cabinet and
pulls out a hedge clipper,
the kind that resembles a big pair of scissors) Ah... Here
we are.

Euan: Lord! (jumps
from the table.)

Dr. Wasserman: You see, Euan, I
use humor to, uh, help diffuse the awkwardness of one man examining
another man's penis.

Euan: That's a good bit. I feel
a lot more relaxed now. (gets back on the table.)

...

Dr. Wasserman: Well, it's
thumbs up on the testicles so to speak. Well, you have no balanoposthitis.
You have no phimosis.
However, I can now make a clear diagnosis of your condition.

Euan: Oh really? What's that?

Dr. Wasserman: Weird
wiener-itis (8) (laughing)
But seriously, Euan, it's a frequent reason for adult circumcision. Let
me ask you... have you given any thought to the kind of cut you would
like?

Euan: (confused)
Well... no...

Dr. Wasserman: Would you like
to pick one out from the big book of penises?

Euan: Oh well... I suppose.

Dr. Wasserman: Joking.

Euan: Okay. (chuckles)

Dr. Wasserman: Joking. There is
no big book of penises. I mean maybe there is one, but I certainly
don't have it. One again, I was using humor ro help put you at your
ease.

(Enter Jordan. She
tells Dr Wasserman his next appointment has
cancelled. As she leaves, she drops a magazine on the floor. She bends
down to pick up and sneaks a peek at Euan's penis)

Dr. Wasserman: Don't put off
till tomorrow what you can just cut off with a razor-sharp scalpel and
a Gomco clamp
today.

Euan: Ah... Well I really
wasn't expecting, uh... You know, perhaps you could just talk me
through the procedure.

Dr. Wasserman: Oh yes, yes,
yes... Of course. (pulling over a tray of instruments)
Well quite simply in layman's terms, what I will be doing is making a
small dorsal
slit in the foreskin whereby the foreskin will be separated from the
glans [This is a
reference to infant circumcision. The adult
foreskin is already separated.] at which
point the bell portion of this Gomco clamp will be placed over the
glans and the foreskin pulled over the bell and through the plate and
the yoke and then I will tighten. (Dr. Wasserman
picks up each instrument and re-enacts each step, to Euan's
horror.)

(Suddenly Dr. Wasserman
is notified of an emergency by the intercom. He hands the Gomco clamp
to Euan and leaves. Euan
immediately puts the clamp down. He picks up another instrument that
has a huge blade like a chef's knife.)

Chau: You don't have to tell
me. My circumcision was the worst day of my life.

Euan: (sarcastically)
It was the third day of your life. How could you possibly remember?

Chau: Dude, I remember it all:
I'm in this clear plastic crib chilling, scoping out the lady babies. I
had this sweet knit hat on- made me look like Baretta. Then this weird
doctor was all choppity-chop-chop. And I'm
all 'Dude, lay off the golden inch!'

Euan: Chau, that's insane.

...

The locker room.
Later

Euan is shaving. Mike
makes small talk and leaves. Euan takes off his shorts. Enter a
beautiful blonde female gym employee. Euan hurries to put his
towel on

Blonde: Oops! I'm sorry. We
close in a half hour. I didn't think anyone was in here.

Euan: Oh, that's all right.
Come back anytime.

Blonde: I'll do that. Do you
need a towel?

Euan: Oh, no, no... fine,
Thanks, I've got one.

Blonde: I bet it's not as nice
and fresh and soft as this one.
So why don't you drop that one and come here.

Euan: (looks towards
Heaven. Voice over:) Dear Penthouse, I never used to believe
that your letters were true. But this one night at my health club.... (takes
off his towel, throws it to the side, steps from behind the sinks, and
walks toward the Blonde.)

Blonde: (She finally
takes her eyes from Euan's and looks down at his penis.)
Whoa! (9) (she runs away.)

Euan: (grabbing a
towel and covering up) That's it!. I've had it. Right... I'm
cutting you off! (pointing at his penis
underneath the towel) No, not you two. You're fine. (Exit,
still talking to his genitals.)

Dr. Wasserman's
examining room

Dr. Wasserman: (raising
his head from underneath Euan's gown.) Now, that's what I
call a good clean shave. Slap a little skin-bracer down there and we're
good to go.

Euan: That's the humor again,
right?

Dr. Wasserman: Indeed, it is. (yells)
Suzanne, we're ready!

(Enter Suzanne,
pushing a tray of instruments)

Euan: That's your urology
assistant? She looks more like a magician's assistant.

Dr. Wasserman: Well, we are
about to make something disappear.

Euan: I set 'em up and you
knock 'em down.

Dr. Wasserman: I guess .

Euan: Ah, well, it's a pleasure
to meet you, Suzanne. I can't help but feel we're skipping ahead a few
steps in our relationship.

Suzanne: Wow. Charming and
pantless. Devastating combination. What are we doing today, Doctor?

Dr. Wasserman: Well, Euan here
will be enjoying a moderate low circumcision. So I will prepare the
anesthetic and then, uh... let's
peel this banana.

Suzanne: So why are you having
this done? Have you had problems with it?

Mike and Euan board an elevator, followed by a
beautiful young woman. They introduce themselves and start flirting
with her, when Dr Wasserman suddenly joins them.

Wasserman: Mike, has the
redness gone away? And what about the flaking and peeling? Are you
still using the lotion twice a day?

Mike: Yeah, yeah, sometimes
more; I broke up with my girlfriend.

Wasserman (talking
across the woman): And you, Euan, hows old Snuffleopagus, ah?
I hope you remember that the, uh, uncircumcised penis poses challenges
to hygiene. And smegma may be a funny word, but
it's no laughing matter, believe you me.

Euan: I remember!

(The elevator stops and the woman
gets out.)

Euan: So, Doc, what are you
doing here?

Wasserman: I just moved in.

Euan: Oo, welcome!

Wasserman: I'm now a proud
resident of the Hadley on Centre St. I found that since my wife's
death, you know, the house was just too hard to keep clean.

Mike: Kinda like Euan's penis. (They
laugh. Euan looks disgusted.)

Wasserman: Well said, well
said. Although I can't really compare my house to Euan's penis. Because
as far as I know my wife didn't leap to her death from the roof of
Euan's penis. Also our house was quite large.

(The elevator stops and Wasserman
gets out. The scene changes.)

Perhaps some humour can be extracted from this
scene in Mike and Euan's near-saintly toleration of Wasserman's
rudeness and uprofessionality. This time there isn't a single defence
of Euan's wholeness.

The Office (US version)

"Baby Shower" - first broadcast October 16, 2008

Dwight (Rainn Wilson) is helping Michael prepare
for the birth of Jan's baby by pretending to give birth to a
watermelon. In an interview with the camera crew, he claims: "Babies
are one of my many areas of expertise. Growing up, I performed
my own circumcision." (In Season 1, he claimed he could raise and lower
his own cholesterol at will.)

This implies that circumcision is an inevitable
part of childbirth.

Series 8 Episode 13: Jury Duty

Angela had an affair with Dwight but left him to
marry a Senator. She has now had a "premature" baby but her officemates
note that he is suspiciously heavy, and Oscar thinks the Senator is
gay. Left alone with Angela, Dwight presses his case:

Dwight: We were together a
month before the wedding. You said that Robert was not fulfilling you,
and I said, 'I bet I could fulfill you,' and you said, 'I'd like to see
you try,' and then I kissed you with the force of a thousand
waterfalls. (Angela is unconvinced. Dwight leaves)

Dwight (to nurse):
Cancel the circumcision. I just might be his father.

The previous reference suggests Dwight has no
particular snitch on circumcising - or the scriptwriters have no
concern for continuity - but his right to decide about circumcising is
here just a token of fatherhood.

Offspring
(Australia)

Comedy/drama on Channel 10

Dr Chris Havel, a paediatritian, tells nurse Zara
that he's been
called in to "referee" between two warring parents who disagree over
circumcising their newborn baby. The father wants it, the mother
doesn't.

Chris tells Zara that it's a sensitive issue for
him as he was four when he was circumcised, and he remembers it. His
mother was against circumcision, but his father, overseas when he was
born, came home and won the argument. The nurse, who's obviously
interested in him, says she "hopes they did a tidy job", but the doctor
doesn't take the bait.

If he doesn't like being circumcised at all, that
probably did not help.
In a signifcant British case,
it was ruled that where parents disagree, a court order would be
required for him to be circumcised. In a
significant Oregon case, a boy aged 14 was allowed to refuse
to be circumcised where his parents disagreed.

Parenthood

NBC S05/Ep08, "The Ring" first broadcast November
14, 2013

Adam Braverman (Peter Krause) and his brother
Crosby (Dax Shepard) are sitting in the office at their recording
studio.

Crosby: Well, he was in the
outfit, he had the whole, you know, he was twirlin' around the kitchen
in the, ya know, super thin, here's-what-religion-I-am pants.

The Braverman family lives outside of Oakland,
California, and does not appear to espouse any particular religion but
mainstream, unaffiliated Christianity: "Only Jews circumcise."

Parks and Recreation

Comedy about local body affairs. Season 1, Episode
3, "The Reporter", April 23, 2009 The council plans to turn a
construction pit into a park, and are being interviewed for a local
paper by Shauna Malwae-Tweep (Alison Becker). They have been told to
stay on message and carefully prepared for the interview. Andy (Chris
Pratt), not a staff member himself, broke his legs in a drunken fall
into the pit, but has not yet told the others.

Shauna: So, Andy, tell me
about the night you fell into
the pit.

Andy: You know, that's actually
a great story. Um, I'd just
finished up a gig with my band Threeskin, formerly Fourskin,
but our
bassist left for personal reasons.

The gratuitous reference is used to indicate Andy
going off-message. Foreskins are always irrelevant. (A band called The
Four Skins occurs in Gore Vidal's Myra Breckenridge,
also purely for its shock value.)

The Practice

A courtroom drama series

A lawyer is questioning a Roma (Gypsy) woman about
"the barbaric practice of arranged child marriages". The witness points
out that America has barbaric
practices too:

"When a baby is born you cut off the tip of its
penis."

Providence

Broadcast July 21, 2000

A Jewish woman insists her non-Jewish fiance be
circumcised. He cancels the wedding. She asks a doctor to try to change
his mind. (This would be doubtful ethically.)
She goes to his workplace and persuades him. At the last minute she
changes her mind, but he gets
circumcised anyway to prove his love.

Cute "jokes" in surgery about "Can you feel this?"
He gives the doctor a TV (he sells them) in payment. A relative of the
doctor says, "That must have cost a lot," but the doctor replies, "Oh ,
it's a little bargain." [implying that circumcision is trivial]
.

The lead character, Dr Sam Beckett (Scott Baluka)
“leaps” into different people’s bodies, temporarily
taking part of other people's lives in order to correct historical
mistakes. In
this episode he inhabits the body of a rabbi. Admiral Al Calavicci
(Dean Stockwell) is an assistand in the form of a hologram
who provides him with the information he needs to play each
part.

Calavicci: My third wife,
Ruthie, was Jewish; she taught me the basics.
Of course the more complicated stuff - weddings, circumcisions - you’re
on your own
with that.

Beckett: Circumcisions?!

The topic is
apparently not raised again. Enough that we contemplate Beckett cutting
a baby without instruction. Subtext: infant male genital cutting is
risky.

Queer as Folk
(UK 1999)

Drama about Vince Tyler (Craig Kelly), boyhood
friend but never lover of rich, self-absorbed Stuart Jones (Aidan
Gillen), their parents and their circle of friends, largely set in the
gay clubs of Manchester's Canal St. Stuart was sperm donor for Rosalie
Cotter (Caroline Pegg) and Romey Sullivan (Esther Hall), but unlike the US version, it is Vince who
behaves more like their baby Alfred's father, and there is no
suggestion that Alfred (Alfie Robinson) might be circumcised.

It is a given that every man has a foreskin, and if
it smells, that's a joke, not a catastrophe demanding surgery.

Queer As Folk
(US, 2000)

Sitcom about a group of gay and lesbian friends, a
spin-off of the UK version
which has no reference to circumcision.

Official summary:
Lindsay and Melanie have a bris for their new baby Gus, which Brian
decides to miss until Michael convinces him otherwise. Brian decides to
crash the party and put his parental foot down. ... Brian's involvement
as the father of Gus causes some relationship strain between Lindsay
and Melanie.

(The front of Melanie and Lindsay's
house. Various people are coming with gifts, etc.)

Voice ofMichael:
About a week after their baby was born, thanks in part to the
invaluable contribution of Brian Kinney, Lindsay and Melanie had a
party. They invited a herd of their nearest and dearest lesbians,
assorted relatives and us...friends of the father, to their house. (Michael
starts walking up the stairs) It was really nice....

But I'm jumping ahead. Let's go back an hour.
(The camera goes in fast motion out of the house and into the
gym, where Brian is working out and Michael is trying to get him to go)

Brian: I told you. I'm not
going to the muncher's brunch. And that's final.

Brian: Just tell them the
usual. (takes towel off and throws it at Michael)
Something came up.

(At the party. Melanie and Lindsay
approach, carrying Gus)

Michael: Oh, here he is. Can I
hold him?

Lindsay: It's almost time for
the ceremony. Where's Brian?

Michael: He couldn't make it.
He said to tell you that, uh -

Mel: Something came up. Hm. I
can guess what.

Rabbi: Shall we begin?

Lindsay: This is Rabbi Protesh.
He'll be doing the Bris.

Emmett: Oh, I love pot roast.

Ted: That's brisket. I believe,
in the Jewish faith, a bris is a circumcision ceremony.

Rabbi: That's correct. First I
give the boy child a little wine. Then I say a prayer or two. Then I
take my scalpel and I remove his foreskin.
(Emmett faints)

(At the gym, Brian is changing. His phone
rings and he answers it)

Brian: How's the party?The screen splits to show Michael and Brian)

Michael: You better get your
ass over here fast.

Brian: Why? With all those
bull-dykes around, is there a shortage of bottoms?

Michael: No. I... I... Remember
Lindsay and Melanie's invitation, the part that was in Hebrew? I just
found out what that means.

(Melanie is holding the naked baby as the
Rabbi speaks)

Rabbi: In every Jewish boy's
life, there are three steps to becoming a man. First, his bris. Then
his Bar-Mitzvah, and finally, his marriage. (as he talks, the
camera goes around the room - Michael and Ted are holding Emmett up)
For thirty-five hundred years, the circumcision ritual has been the
fundamental sign of the covenant between God and Israel. Melanie, will
you please place your son on his mother's lap? (She does so.
Closeups as the Rabbi picks up a Mogen
Clamp.)

Lindsay: Can we please stop
this?! (everyone falls silent) (to Brian) Why does
it matter to you if Gus is circumcised?

Brian: It matters that he's
been in this world less than a week and already there are people who
won't accept him for the way he is. Who would even mutilate him rather
than let him be the way he is. The way he was born.
Well, I'm not going to let that happen.

(At the diner. Emmett, Katsuo, Brian, Ted
and Michael all share a booth)

Emmett: You really showed those
dykes who's got the low hangers.

Michael: And for once, it was
us.
...

Ted: I've always said, there's
only two reasons to be friends with lesbians. They'll never try to
convince you that the only reason you're gay is that you haven't met
the right woman. And, uh, they know how to change a flat.
(Michael laughs)

Brian: It wasn't about them. It
was about my son. If I don't look out for him, who will?

Michael: Wow! If you're not
careful, you might turn out to be an all right dad in spite of
yourself. raises glass) To Brian.

Ted and Emmett: To Brian.

(Melanie and Lindsay's house. Melanie is
in a bad mood as they walk through the house doing various things)

Lindsay: Should I freeze this
or toss it? I'd rather not have it around while I'm trying to get back
into shape. (silence) So, how long is this going to
go on? Or do you plan never to speak to me ever again?

Mel: What would you like me to
say?

Lindsay: Anything.

Mel: All right, how about "I
have a house full of uneaten cold cuts and an uncircumcised son"? How's
that?

Lindsay: (drinks)
Oh. Look. Brian's going to take out the insurance policy. At least he's
agreed to do that. That's something, isn't it?

Mel: Oh, my consolation prize.

Lindsay: It was important
enough to you last week.

Mel: So was this afternoon. But
now I have been humiliated in front of our friends, my relatives, Rabbi
Protesh. Where's the goddamn plastic wrap? (grabs it)
And you let him do it.

Lindsay: Me?

Mel: You're the one who decided
to call off the bris. Of course, I know it's not very important to you
or Brian, but it happens to be a very important ritual in my family.

Lindsay: You know, there are a
lot of men who think circumcision is a cruel and barbaric practice.

Mel: I don't care what men
think about their dicks! I care that you put Brian before me. But, you
know, why should I be surprised? You always have.

Lindsay: Oh, for Christ' sake,
are we really gonna go through this again? I don't wanna have this
conversation.

Mel: Yeah, and I didn't want
Brian be the baby's father in the first place. But, no, you had to have
it your way. It had to be Brian or no one. So now he' s a part of our
lives forever. Whether we like it or not.

(Melanie and Lindsay's bedroom. Melanie
has been answering the telephone)

Mel: I'm sorry it woke you, and
the baby. I know you need your rest.

Lindsay: I was up anyway.

Mel: You were? So was I. Just
thinking about all the terrible things I said.

Lindsay: No, I should have
stood up to him. I should have.

Mel: No. I mean, it was best to
be practical. I mean, this way Gus - how am I ever gonna get used to
that name? - may keep his foreskin but still be provided for.

Lindsay: (sits down
next to Mel) Look, it doesn't matter who's right. We can't
allow Brian to come between us, as much as he'd like to.

Mel: And you know he would.

Lindsay: Even if he is the
father, we're still the parents. You and me. Gus belongs to us. And
that's why we had him.

Mel: Well, you
had him. Aside from saying "Push" and "Breathe" I really didn't have
that much to do with it.

Lindsay: You had everything to
do with it. I never would have had him without you. (They kiss.)
Just remember that...next time you're wondering who comes first. (they
look down at Gus)

Since neither biological parent is Jewish, Gus is
not Jewish and need not be circumcised.
While some remarkably Intactivist statements are made (including
Brian's implicit linking of the enforced conformity of circumcision
with the conformity enforced on gay people), much of the discussion -
especially Melanie's contribution - ignores any effect circumcision
might have on Gus.

Emmett creates a screen name for himself that
includes everything that he wants to be: 4 per cent body fat, big beefy
top 9[inches] by 6 UNCUT.

[June 5, 2005]Ted, who has been depressed about aging, going
bald, and gaining weight on earlier episodes, has decided to undergo
multiple cosmetic surgery. In a hospital room right before the surgery,
with several markings on his face where the alterations will be done,
he is having doubts. Emmett is with him.

Ted: I've never had any surgery
before. I still have everything intact,
you know. My ... my appendix. My tonsils.

Emmett: Foreskin

Ted: My wisdom teeth. This will
be my first time under the knife.

Emmett: Pish! It's nothing.

Ted: You can sit there and pish
all you want, I'm the one about to suffer
severe pain for the sake of a new me. What if I don't like the new me?
... Maybe Brian was right ...
maybe this obsession with youth and beauty is shallow, superficial, and
narcissistic.

Ted tells Melanie he's no longer
satisfied with sleeping around since becoming so popular after the
cosmetic surgery, and he wants to settle down. She tells him that if he
wants to get hitched, he needs a Jewish guy because they make the best
marriage material - that is, if the man can get past his incestuous
relationship with his mother that lasts beyond the grave.

Later, Ted and Brian are at work at Brian's ad
agency where Ted is Brian's
accountant.

Ted: Hey listen, how about
coming along with me to Beth Emmanuel's
mixer?

Brian: Who's she?

Ted: It's a temple. They're
having their monthly gay get-together at
Woody's and I want to meet a mensch, settle down.

Later. Ted is at the mixer, at the bar ordering a
drink,
As he turns, he bumps into a man and spills it. After some small talk...

Ted: Ted Schmidt. Shalom

Adam: Adam Bernstein. Shalom,
and nice to meet you too.

Cut to them seated at a table, talking,
obviously attracted to each other.

Ted and Adam come back to Ted's place after their
first date. They kiss

Adam: You know I never put too
much stock into those mixers at Woody's. I
mainly went to confirm my convictions that nothing would ever come of
it.

Ted: That's so pessimistic.

Adam: It's not pessimistic.
It's, uh, it's Jewish. But this time it
worked out.

Ted: For me, too.

They walk to the sofa.

Adam: Do you mind if I ask you
a personal question?

Ted: "Do I ever have sex on the
first date?"

Adam: How did you guess?

Ted: Depends how it goes.

Adam: How would you say this is
going?

Adam starts to kiss Ted again,
passionately. He goes down on his
knees and starts to unbutton Ted's pants. Ted lies back. Then he
realises
nothing is happening.

Ted: Everything all right down
there?

Adam: Frankly, no.

Ted: What's wrong?

Adam: You're not Jewish.

Ted: I never said I was.

Adam: But you were at the
mixer.

Ted: I wanted to meet a nice
Jewish guy.

Adam (shaking his
head, getting up): So did I.

Ted: Well, look, I mean, why
let a little thing like my not being
Jewish ruin what could be a beautiful relationship?

Adam (adamant):
Because I want a Jewish husband. Because I want
to settle down, carry on traditions, heritage.

Ted: Yeah. I don't know how you
do it. You always know the right thing
to say.

As usual, "circumcised" = "Jewish" in both Ted's
and Adam's expectations. That Ted could could be unaware that his
intactness might be an issue defies belief. The contradiction between
Adam's traditionalism regarding circumcision and his lack of it
regarding homosexuality goes unexplored.

Raising Hope

Season 3, Episode 21, "Bar Mitzvah: The Musical",
first broadcast 28 March 2013

The parents (Lee Majors, Shirley Jones) of Burt
Chance (Garret Dillahunt) arrive for an unplanned visit. They tell him
that they have
done some genealogy and discovered that they are actually Jewish. They
urge Burt - who must be 40 or so - to study for and have a bar mitzvah.
They'll invite all their
friends, including a bunch of Jewish people they know.

In a musical scene in which men hoist Burt in a
chair (as at Jewish weddings), everyone in the room sings about aspects
of Judaism. One line is to the effect that "our wieners
are cut". (Fiddler on the Roof this isn't.)

At the end of the episode, Burt's parents are
caught lying about
his Jewish heritage. They were short of money and figured they could
get a lot of it by faking a bar mitzvah.

Jimmy Chance (Lucas Neff), is in the manager's
office of Howdy's Market where he works, talking to his father, Burt,
the store's
manager, Barney Hughes (Gregg Binkley), and another employee, Frank
(Todd Giebenhain). Burt has just told the others in the room that he
found a lump on his testicle, and Barney mentions that he once found a
lump on one of his.

Burt: What do I need a doctor
for? I got a Barney. You're an expert.

Barney: Whoa, whoa, whoa Burt,
I'm not a doctor.

Burt: It doesn't matter. You
remember what yours felt like. If mine feels the same, I know I got
nothing to worry about.

Barney: I'm not qualified...

(Burt stands up in front of the seated
Barney and drops his jeans. Barney's surprised face is shown from
behind Burt, between his legs. Barney blinks a couple of times while
apparently looking at Burt's genitals, then looks slightly away.)

Barney: (awkwardly) ... and
you're definitely not Jewish.

Barney would have known that from the episode
above - but also, from the same episode, that people can be Jewish
without knowing it or being circumcised. It's a gratuitous, throwaway
line, inserted because of the jokey uneasiness
Americans have with circumcision. Burt is a bumbling, often clueless
character who says and does outrageous things, and for the mainstream
American audiences this is written for, being intact is another sign of
his oddity.

The Real Housewives
of New York City

Season 5, Episode 16: What Happens in St. Barths
Doesn't Stay in St. Barths.

Heather Thomson: So let me
tell you, I didn't grow up Jewish. When John said "you don't have to
convert to Judaism when you marry me, but I would like to raise my
children Jewish."
Carole Radziwill: Are they being raised
Jewish?
Heather: Yeah, totally.
Carole: Did you have a, what is it when
they cut the, the foreskin?
Heather: Oh, yes, he had his bris. A
bris. Yeah.
Carole: I've been to a bris.
Heather: Yeah, it's not great because,
you know, you feel bad and it doesn't feel good. But it looks so much
better when you're 25, you're like "YEAH!".
Carole: You ever been with a guy
uncircumcised?
Heather: Yeah. I don't like it.
Carole: I don't mind.
Heather: I didn't like it.
Carole: I'm a little bit of a size
queen, but, you know, it matters who it's attached to.
Heather: Although, I gotta say this, it
doesn't matter who's attached to the small penis. Sorry.

Andrew's younger brother, William, is visiting
him. They
are in the hot tub and Andrew says to William

"If I had twins I would circumcise one and not
the other.....that's how I would tell them apart and would name them
the exact same name: Robert and Robert."

This has reportedly happened - the single
circumcision, not the name - nobody would be so
stupid as to give twins the same name.

Red Dwarf
(UK)

Science fiction comedy about three mismatched
cosmonauts.

Characters routinely uses "Smeg!" as an expletive,
presumably as a contraction of smegma.
It may also be relevant that Smeg is an Italian brand
of whiteware sold widely throughout Europe.

The existence of smegma is taken as a given.

Roots (2016)

In part 1 of the series

Young men are being trained to be warriors. The
chief
addresses them:

"What is the most important role of a Mandinka warrior? To
raise a family ... It is important that your fotos [penises] be clean
and healthy."
Thus begins the circumcision ritual.

There is no evidence that African genital cutting
was done for either cleanliness or health. This seems to be a modern US
cultural imposition on the rite.

Rugrats

Children's cartoon. Season 2, Episode 4 Showdown
at Teeter-Totter Gulch
Official summary: A mean girl steals babies' toys at the park by no
shadows time, so Tommy stands up to her and turns her into a nice girl.

Chucky says, "Something happened to him [Tommy]
his first 8 days, I dont know what it is, but after that he changed and
does not like to see babies getting picked on."

Either "Circumcision makes children
compassionate" (unlikely, but one circumstition
is similar) or "Circumcision is picking on babies."